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Preschool-aged children continually learn new skills and perfect existing ones. “Mastery motivation” is theorized to be a personality trait linked to skill learning. The Dimensions of Mastery Questionnaire (DMQ) quantifies mastery motivation. This pilot study evaluated DMQ test-retest score reliability (preschool-version) and included exploratory analysis of test-retest score reliability with a subgroup of children with a physical disability. The child's parent completed the DMQ twice (30-day mean retest interval) and rated DMQ for ease of use. Test-retest score reliability was estimated for DMQ Total, aspect and scale scores using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Thirty-three mothers participated (children's mean age = 4 years 1 month, SD = 1 year 2 months). Total score and expressive aspect test-retest score reliability were good (ICCs 0.76 and 0.70, respectively) and instrumental aspect test-retest score reliability was excellent (ICC = 0.87). Five of the 7 scales had ICCs > 0.74. The mastery pleasure scale scored lowest in test-retest score reliability (ICC = 0.35). Total score test-retest reliability was good for children who have a disability (n = 12) and in children typically developing (n = 21): ICCs 0.71 and 0.79, respectively. The DMQ was found to be easy to complete using a 5-point scale with “1” being “very difficult” and “5” being “very easy.” The mothers' mean score was 4.4/5. This pilot work indicated

Mss Igoe, Jean, Vo, Yep and Mr Peralta were all at the Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto and Bloorview Research Institute as Students at the time of working of this study.

This research was completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the first 5 authors for an MScPT degree at the Department of Physical Therapy, University of Toronto.

The authors would like to acknowledge Susan Cohen, BSc, research assistant, Bloorview Research Institute, for her assistance with the recruitment and data management, and Gloria Lee, BSc, for her assistance with formatting the article. The authors also thank the mothers who participated in this study. Finally, we thank Dr George Morgan, developer of the DMQ, for providing us with the DMQ manual (2006 version) and for so promptly and thoroughly responding to our questions and ideas about the DMQ during the course of our study.

The senior author is supported by a Career Development Award (2007–2011), Canadian Child Health Clinician Scientist Program.